Showrunner Laura Eason shares the distinct challenges and thrills of developing a project like 'Three Women' during an "Achieving Gender Equity in Storytelling" conversation presented by STARZ #TakeTheLead and moderated by THR contributing editor Stacey Wilson Hunt.
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00:00What were the distinct challenges and thrills of developing a project like this that is
00:07unabashedly female-centered, without judgment of its characters, and one that brings so
00:13much nuance to even the most uncomfortable and controversial themes?
00:17I don't think I've ever seen so many women on screen since Sarah Pauley's wonderful film,
00:23Women Talking.
00:24The audacity of just women talking to each other about their lives still feels like a
00:29miracle.
00:30So tell me about your process.
00:32Well, I think like everyone here, it just isn't a question that centering women and
00:39their stories in all of their complexity is just something we should be doing.
00:44It's not something that I inherently question or doubt.
00:47So going into the process, we entered in with a lot of confidence that these are stories
00:53that deserve to be told, to be seen, and to be supported at the highest level in terms
00:59of the artistry, how visually beautiful we wanted to make the show.
01:04And that's why we brought Louise Freeburg in to direct our pilot and two other episodes.
01:09So we really brought just all of our artistic tools to creating a show that was unabashedly
01:18female, but in all of its complexity.
01:21Because I think that's something that we don't see enough to be able to hold that nuance
01:26of how unique each woman's experience is.
01:28And how open is the marketplace generally to these types of stories?
01:33Well, I mean, I think we all are feeling this contraction of the moment.
01:37And I think we caught the, I hope, you know, I'm hoping we'll come back, but it was a little
01:42bit of the tail end of the doors really being open to make what we want to make and to really
01:47have a lot of financial support.
01:51And so I don't know, I'm in my own development projects feeling a little bit of the contraction
01:57of that.
01:58And I hope Three Women, and that people will watch, and that its success hopefully will
02:03continue to open doors, that really supporting these stories and supporting them in all ways
02:07is important.
02:11But you know, I do think we're moving into a moment where it's going to be harder than
02:15sometimes.
02:16It's a tough time.
02:17And Starz was scheduled to be on Showtime.
02:19So it's pretty incredible and wonderful that Starz was able to bring this to life.
02:24Because we've seen so many wonderful shows fall by the wayside or just disappear into
02:28development hell, as they say.
02:30So thank you, Starz, for saving Three Women.
02:33And it couldn't be a better home for us.
02:34Absolutely.
02:35It couldn't be a better home.